#I cannot believe there was such a basic garden theme

[artschoolglasses]

And to think I was concerned that everyone was just going to lazily show up in floral print.

Fucking wish people showed up in floral print. Instead of this bland-ass sea of beige.

I didn't hate beige outfits before tonight.

I hate them now.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello! Love your blog - please allow me to bring back a topic to the table:

How long did Daniel spend with Louis and Armand back in the 70s? I see a lot of speculation that some version of DM takes place back then. And, it would be very dramatically compelling to have Daniel realize that he’s not just lost a night of memories (which I think is what he believes presently?) but actually several months/a whole relationship/a side of himself. However, in every new clip from the 70s thus far the trio seems to be wearing the same clothes as from the flashback in episode six. Also, I think in some official interviews it sounds like they are referring to a single event when they are talking about the first interviews. Of course, this could be a deliberate obfuscation as to not spoil anything…

I read a theory speculating that Daniel will early on in the season remember a few flashes of Armand. Specifically that after having saved him from Louis, Armand basically considered killing him. That this is what the ”I’m the quiet you’ve been longing for…” scene is about, and that this is why Daniel at some point fears Armand (as heard in the trailer). He will probably believe that Armand must have erased his memories after Louis tried to kill him (which might also be just what happened if DM doesn’t take place) as he learns of the extent of Armand’s mind ability (which could be connected to learning about the Théâtre des Vampire as they are probably hypnotizing their victims?). Listening to Louis’ and hearing his inconsistencies he will probably put two and two together and realize and help Louis realize that Armand has interfered with his mind.

If DM happened in the past, this could result in a really explosive ending in which Daniel first believes that he has finally come to understand all there is to know of the story between Louis and Armand and also of his first encounter with the two, but then as more memories comes to the surface he is faced with the realization that there’s a lot more to it.

(1/2)

Hey!

Glad you like :))

Sooooo I think that the Devil's Minion of the past will likely unfold pretty much the same as in the books, namely the hunt across the globe, and then years of relationship.

However, I do not think that will be something we will see everything of already. AND I think that both Devil's Minion and Lesmand have been mostly kept out of the "general trailer" as not to confuse the more casual viewers. So that is nothing I would go by, actually.

Daniel remembering is - contrary to Louis! - a deliberate thing (at least from Armand's side - I do believe Louis also tries to remember deliberately, but Armand probably does not really want him to, which... I get. Ahem.). Others have posted about this too, but the medicine he gets should have other effects - and the sheer presence of Fareed means there's... something going on.

I think he will continue to remember, more and more, and there is a high chance that he will remember Louis, too. Personally I think that it was not Armand who erased Daniel's memories (contrary to Louis'). This could also be the reason why for Louis some bleed through... and for Daniel they didn't. (But we'll see about that^^).

I am very sure DM did indeed happen in the past - up and until Daniel not being too healthy and wanting to be turned. And then something happened differently than in the book.

Remembering will indeed be a shock to the system for him - as you said, he more or less settled. Though his subconscious remembers. The Bosch-puzzle, the "Savage Garden" book. Set design, yes, but done on purpose. He also knows there's something that doesn't match, because he probably cannot remember where he got the bite mark.

Considering these vampires can heal these wounds... that's a visible claim. By Armand.

And yes, this is a very... insidious kind of horror. And it is a theme in the chronicles. The road to accept themselves as the monsters they are is rocky indeed.

Daniel realizing he "loved this thing" is also part of it all. (That is a quote, too^^). Daniel does not see Armand in any kind of idealized light - he sees him in his entirety. And yes, of course Armand thinks what he does best... he's not doing it out of malice. He thinks he's helping... in his own, inimitable way.

"L'amour est un monstre".

They didn't choose this headline just for Loumand on the posters :) No, as with so many things... this goes for several relationships and situations.

Armand will indeed not be able to let Daniel die, imho - but that won't be this season... I think this season will need to deal with the fallout on Louis. For Daniel and Armand that will come up still, in some kind of way.

The upcoming season will be very interesting for DM, but I doubt it will be the last - I think it will open it up, so that the truly interesting, gritty conflict can come about in the upcoming seasons :))

I for one am looking very much forward to it.

[candied-boys]

Another - Rio x F! Reader Part 3

When Emma chooses another, Rio has to go home without her... But there's more awaiting him than just forgotten memories...

Themes: hurt and healing, facing the past, learning to love again, aka angst with a happy ending!

Warnings: angst, Rio route spoilers, eventual smut, written from Rio's POV

Part 2

Not only did you not love her, you treated her so unkindly that she’s visibly nervous around you, and you dragged her into your most heinous act. She should despise you as much or more than you despise yourself, and yet all you can sense from her is a heartbroken desire to be accepted.

In your self-centred ways, you've neglected the one question you ought to have asked from the start.

“Did you… ever… love me?”

You can't bring yourself to meet her gaze, choosing to linger instead on the golden petals before you.

“I still do… very much…”

The crack in her tender voice tells you what awaits should you dare to seek her eyes. Coward that you are, you don't.

“Why? I'm a terrible person. I'm distrustful, hateful, vengeful, rude, scheming, and selfish. I'm basically a murderer. What ever did I do to attract you?”

A sniffly giggle chimes in the breeze, one more refined and elegant than that of her daughter, but unmistakably the same.

“What's so funny?” you ask, finally turning your gaze back to her.

“You've become much more self-aware over the last three years. You never would have admitted such things before — though they're all true.”

“So, you agree then? I'm awful. There's nothing about me worth loving.”

“On the contrary, what you mentioned has never been anything but reasons for me to love you more.”

“What are you talking about? Have you hit your head as badly as I have?” you find yourself asking seriously as you reach for her shoulders and turn her to face you.

A little startled she blinks nervously at you before glancing at your grip on either side.

“Uh, my apologies. Do continue… if you please,” you mutter and drop your arms, returning to fiddling with the daffodil.

“Well… I suppose it sounds ridiculous the way I phrased it, but… I believe the only reason you ever lashed out or let such dark feelings taint your heart was to mask the pain… When everything you've ever cherished has been taken from you, there's nothing left to lose… Truly, I believe you've never been anything but kind and caring deep down.”

Thoughts you're certain you've never told a soul. Memories branded on your heart in places you try to hide even from yourself. Fears and motivations you didn't understand until you were forced to face them when Silvio abruptly appeared a month ago.

Answering the shocked query of your brows, she declares with scorn, “I am your wife, Your Highness. How could I not know? Do you think I’ve been spending my days at court simply watching the sea roll in and out? What do you think Her Majesty and I spoke of all these years I've been Her attendant? To whom do you imagine I have been paying attention if not my betrothed?”

The pain that lapped at her eyes mere seconds ago has turned into surging waves of indignation, yet you can't resist the smile that washes over your features in response. At the same moment, your daughter comes running back, no flowers to be found, only insistent demands for ‘up’.

Bringing her into your arms you tell the little girl, “You know, bambina, your mother is a very perceptive woman. I don't think you or I will get away with much of anything as long as she has her eye on us.”

A bashfully averted gaze is all you catch before you rise and suggest continuing the walk through the rest of the gardens.

Little did you know that afternoon would be the first and last chance you would have to play freely with your daughter for quite some time. Royal duties, politics, visits, and excursions quickly submerged you from dawn ‘til dark thereafter. Though you may be able to get three times as much work done in a day as anyone else, you cannot - despite your best efforts - make meetings with others end thrice as quick.

The first few days after that you had tried to visit Valerie, but found she had already been tucked in for the night. Afraid of waking her with candlelight you didn't ask to see her in spite of the unfamiliar longing that nagged at you. By the second week you had come to accept that the life you'd forgotten had always been soaked with futility.

The only one usually still awake by the time you finish is your mother. Grateful for whatever time you can spend by her side, you visit every night. Weeks pass talking about your childhood memories, her life after you disappeared, the woman and child you left behind, your experience abroad, and eventually the heartache you brought home.

“Mother, I can't help but wonder… why am I the only one who married? Isn't it improper for a younger sibling to marry before the eldest? What happened? Why would father marry me off first when there's no clear political advantage?”

“Valerio… you were the one who wanted to be married. You fought with me, pleaded with me to let you wed…”

Memories billow with a sudden gust of old fears. You had always been afraid the next attempt on her life could be the last, so you had asked your mother to set you up with someone she liked. You had wanted to give her peace of mind that you would be taken care of. Most of all, the thought of not having her blessing on your wedding day had been unbearable.

“I tried to convince you to marry for love; begged you not to put yourself in the same position as your father — a wife unloved and a mistress cherished. You balked at the idea of ever repeating his mistakes and promised me that you would stay loyal to whomever I selected.”

How naive a heart that has yet to know love can be. Never had you imagined yourself capable of the powerful emotions now buried within. You had genuinely believed that, simply because you did not disdain the maiden she recommended, you liked her.

From there you had assumed a thing called love would blossom. However, you belatedly understand that because you had simply believed tolerance to be the limit of your affections, you made no further effort to deepen the connection.

Part four

🧡🫣🧡Tag list: @drachonia @outtayourmouth @maries-gallery @lamiefromage @tele86 @queengiuliettafirstlady

[nyoomfruits]

Heard you were hunting for plant fiasco story, and I will give you one but first, I shall fangirl:

OMG YOUR STORY IS SO GOOD I READ IT FIVE TIMES SINCE IT WAS POSTED 🥹🥹🥹🧡

Now for the plant fiasco: my current office has the unkillable ZZ plants scattered through the office to make it look less soul sucking, and we also have a in-house chill garden with vines and philodendrons all over the room and walls. My colleague knows nothing about plants and every time I touch one, like inspecting the leaves or something she tells me to stop because it might be poisonous 😅 so I decided to play a joke on her with our other colleague. Basically we booked out all three floors of meeting rooms in the building and left only the chill garden free so when she needed a meeting room for the day she had to book the only free one. Then we talked really loud with receptionist about the poisonous plants inside the garden (there are none) while the colleague was in there and had the meeting and could hear every single word. She was visibly sweating and looking around… And as we were talking, a leaf fell down from one of the plants on the table and I kid you not, she screamed bloody murder and jumped away, running out of the room. Everyone present was dying from laughing 😂 since then, we cannot have meetings in the chill garden 😅

Hope you don’t me vomiting my equivalent of plant fiasco on you but this was the most evil in-house thing I’ve done 😂🫣

okay first of all this is SO funny oh my god, i can't believe she fell for that??? also the PREP that went into this i'm mad impressed this is a jim from the office kind of dedication to office pranks and i love it

second of all. i couldn't stop thinking about how this was abosutely something charles from the fake dating au would do??? and then i accidentally ended up writing what's essentially an epilogue for the fic so uuuuh... here you go????

Max is just putting the pasta into boiling water, when he hears the front door open and close, and the sounds of someone taking off their shoes and coat. Seconds later, Charles appears in the kitchen, smiling widely.

“Hey, babe,” he says, making his way over to Max and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Hey,” Max says, stirring his onions, “how was work?”

Charles’s grin widens as he hops up onto the counter to sit next to where Max is cooking. “You know how it’s been a bit boring now Cecile finally stopped believing the coffee machine is haunted?” Charles’s eyes are sparkling with mischief.

Max sends Charles a knowing look. “What did you do?”

“Me?” Charles asks, all faux innocent. Max raises an eyebrow. Charles grins. “We kind of convinced her all of the plants in that one garden themed meeting room were poisonous.”

Max tries very hard to look unimpressed and stoic about it, but he can’t help but the corners of his mouth turning up. “You are evil, you know that?”

Charles hums. “And you love me for it,” he says, leaning forward and capturing Max’s lips in a quick kiss.

“Unfortunately,” Max says, laughing when Charles squeaks indignantly. Max adds bell peppers and zucchini to the pan and stirs them around a little. “I cannot believe its literally your last week at there and you’re spending it riling Cecile up.”

“I want to go out doing what I love most,” Charles says, swinging his legs a little and grinning cheekily. “Plus, the second I start studying engineering after the summer its going to be all work and no play, so I think I deserve this little bit of fun before that.”

Max hums, and stirs in a few tablespoons of Boursin. Charles tries to stick his finger in the sauce that’s forming in the pan and Max swats his hand away. “You know I’m proud of you, right? For taking that step?”

Charles rolls his eyes, but his smile is fond. “You’ve only told me like, a million times.”

“Well consider this million and one,” Max says, moving away from the pan to let the sauce simmer for a bit, stepping in between Charles’s legs. His hands come to rest on Charles’s knees, and he leans forward so his nose brushes against Charles’s. Charles goes cross-eyed trying to look at him. “I am proud of you,” he whispers, in that small space between them, and then leans forward and captures Charles lips in a soft, slow kiss.

He remembers their first kiss, suddenly. That kiss in Miami, that wasn’t real but felt like it. This one feels real and it is. Max will probably never get over that, how this is something he gets to have now, after almost a year of thinking it was only ever going to be a fantasy. He pulls away, leans his forehead against Charles’s. For a moment they just stand there, in their kitchen, breathing each other in.

Eventually, Max pulls away. “Hey, that reminds me,” he says, “You never told me about the office plant fiasco that made the finance department so mad.”

Charles frowns and then his eyes light up. “Oh, you’re right, I haven’t! God, that’s such a good story actually-“

“Do you smell burning?” Max interrupts him, and then turns to his pasta sauce with a panic, which is bubbling rather violently. “Fuck,” Max says, rushing over to stir it. The damage is done, and it definitely is a little burnt in places, but it should still be edible. At the same time, the timer beeps for the pasta, and Charles takes the pan from the stove to drain it, as Max finishes the pasta sauce.

It’s not until they’re in bed, hours later, Charles snoring peacefully beside him, when Max realizes Charles never ended up telling him about the office plants.

[sytokun]

So, I have a question I hope that isn't too much of a problem. How do you feel about Salem as a villain? Her character, her plans, and motivations and what the current Volumes have utilized her, how do you feel about what they do with her as a villain?

On paper, I don't have problems with Salem.

Since the beginning of the show, the Grimm are framed as this mysterious, endgame villain that the cast needs to deal with. There were two major ways they could have gone with this and honestly I wouldn't mind either:

They are a force of nature and cannot be resolved easily, just adapted to and lessen their deadly influence over the world

They have a source/leader who leads or coordinates them, and defeating them significantly reduces the Grimm's influence on the world.

Both can be interesting, and both can flow well with RWBY's themes if executed well. We know canon went with the latter, so that's the baseline we'll go with. Back when Salem was revealed in V3, many fans speculated she was a hyper-evolved Grimm that has lived for so long she gained human intelligence.

Now I used to be iffy on this back when this theory was trending, but over time I grew to like the idea, and thought it would have been a really cool way to frame Salem - she is the ultimate result of the arms race between the Hunters and Grimm, locked in an eternal battle to outpace each other. If Salem wasn't stopped, she would destroy everything. But you had to do it right. You had to somehow make it permanent and that the Grimm could never evolve down this path again.

Because if you don't properly deal with what is essentially the equivalent of the Grimm singularity, you've gotten rid of one problem. But the thing that comes after Salem will learn all of her failures, and then the world will be faced with a being that's even worse.

This idea, if you discount Salem's backstory and relation to Ozpin, and observe more her general vibe and tactics, can match pretty decently. Salem gives the vibe of a threat that is always watching and observing, growing in strength and influence. She's a very archetypal villain type: she's like the serpent in the garden, or Sauron from the shadowed corners of Middle Earth.

And clearly, she has a beef with Ozpin too, so that's a constant. Everyone latched onto Oz's "I've made more mistakes than any man, woman or child" line for a reason - it tips off he may be responsible for some really bad shit; he may be the reason for all of it, and has spent all his lifetimes trying to fix them. It's not farfetched to believe the Grimm and Salem are a result of that - his darkest moment.

Now we're getting into the specifics, and that's where I don't really vibe well with the route canon has committed to: the angry ex-wife thing.

Now, I still think Salem being originally human and not an evolved Grimm is fine too. It's basically like Kerrigan from Starcraft - she's the Queen of the Grimm. I don't even mind her being a former lover - I've had discussions with a friend from my server and there's a lot of potential there if you present it a certain way:

While it does seem weird that the fate of the whole world lies on a single relationship between two people - RWBY is technically a very personal story. It's about individuals, about self-expression and the soul. So having the main conflict be focused around a human experience that becomes corrupted can still work - it's a very Star Wars approach to it: the entire film saga is centered around the Skywalkers.

It's likely that both of them, while deeply in love, had different ideas about immortality, about how the world to be, and they were the only two people powerful enough to put those ideals into action, so they came to blows, causing the landslide that created Remnant as we know it.

So really, there is a lot you can do with Salem if you applied yourself to it. But what we got is a vaguely diet Sauron-ish figure sitting in a creepy castle, like we're in a nondescript cookie-cutter JRPG setting.

Some of Salem's scenes do hit well, and I can only really credit the artists and Jen Taylor's solid performance for that, particularly scenes of her exuding a serene and otherworldly, yet intimate and almost motherly presence, like a whisper given form. More a voice than a person, more a presence than a form.

This was the Salem I think could have worked best with canon RWBY if they had stuck to it. Keep her a largely formless being whose mere voice compels madness and ruin, whose invisible hand has moved the pieces towards a single end.

It sort of reminded me of the one Mephala quest from Skyrim, an unassuming, dark voice beckoning from behind a humble, wooden door tucked in a corner most would overlook until one wanders too near, or rather... seeks it out. Another mentioned Xal'atath from WoW, who is an ancient evil bound in a weapon. All three performances sound incredibly similar too.

I sort of like the idea of Salem leaning more into this trope than the fully physical being we see in the show. Have her start out as this ancient influence, whispering in the ears of Hunters promising power, perhaps bestowing weapons cursed with Grimm-like energy that slowly eats away at them. Hey look, cursed weapons, almost like weapons are an important and recognisable aspect of RWBY, and the idea of an ancient evil possessing your rocket-powered katana assault rifle instead of just a sword or dagger would have been a novel take on this familiar trope.

Have her gain power and influence throughout the series, and if you ever feel like making your pale-faced dark lord mommy character to hit your arbitrary waifu quota, you can just justify it as "she's powerful enough to enter the material plane now" and call it done.

I think it's the things Salem creates that should evoke more physical fear. The weapons she's made. The progressively stronger, more vile abominations she can turn Grimm into. The way she can tug a few strings and turn entire nations against each other. Salem doesn't need to appear as more than a very well-performed voice and a wisp of black smoke or a glowing red eye to be scary. Her works can speak more to her power than any fight scene or rainbow beams from her hand possibly can.

Because maybe, Salem is someone you just can't fight. She's not a problem you can solve with violence, but instead of an immortal, super-powerful mage who realistically should have killed Remnant ten times over yet chooses not to, she has a reason to need pawns. Her influence is strong, but she needs vessels to carry out her will, i.e. Grimm and people like Cinder. Why play a game of chess with Ozpin for thousands of years when you could have just flipped the board over any time you wanted? When the only canonical inconvenience was waiting 20 minutes to an hour to regenerate, good as new?

At least with this depowered, more subtle portrayal of Salem, she still had to play by the rules. She still had to be the Black Queen the show loves to symbolise her as. But really, given enough time, Salem will no longer just be the Black Queen. She'll be the whole board. Playing Ozpin's own pieces against him. Adding pieces to herself. Expanding the playing field so she covers everything.

And she'll do all of this one well-placed turn at a time. To me, that sounds more like the kind of game an immortal would play. Not... bringing six or seven dudes to your moonlit villa (most of whom died either betraying you or being betrayed by the same group members), sitting on your throne for the past few centuries when you could have made a few giant whales in advance, marched into each Kingdom at any time and wiped out all opposition through sheer overwhelming brute force alone.

Canon Salem is mishandled in canon because she had all the power, time and Grimm to take the Relics the boring, straightforward way, but thinks she's too cunning and smart to resort to that, so she just... does it the hard, inefficient way instead, because that's what real, mastermind dark lord characters are supposed to do.

[lesbianfreyja]

Ok I’m genuinely curious… can you like explain Gaylors? It’s like usually even if I don’t get something I can see how people got there but that is not the case here. Like I’m coming from a biased place because I do not like her music and I can’t prove it but she gives me the vibe she would have bullied me in high school and I have a very low tolerance for White Feminism but like as a queer person on the queer internet I can’t not see stuff about it. Is it like they want her to be gay so they have a chance or is it like something they actually believe? Neither? Both?

ok i will try to answer this accessibly 🙏 without delving into her personal life and focusing more on lyrical analysis because it's more interesting <3 and less invasive & takes into account that there is always an element of storytelling to songwriting that will beget themes and so on, without always aligning directly with the truth because...it's a story <3

let's get into it!!

i'd like to start with how she repeatedly comes back to this hidden, forbidden love that she can't let anyone know about. this is a recurring theme on basically every album, and while some of it is because of the media attention and investigations on her & her relationships….

i know places that we can hide and they'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down

outside, they're pushing & shoving; everyone's up to something / you're in the kitchen humming, all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing

make sure nobody sees you leave, keep your hood up and your head down / that's the thing about illicit affairs

no deal, that 1950s shit they want from me / all they see is a one night or a wife / i just wanna stay in this lavender haze (a song she specifically said was about rumors she loathed, which as an interesting aside, the internet took to mean gaylors until the album came out)

some of it relies a little too heavily on the "this is something BAD/secret that CANNOT be discovered" with full religious imagery to boot

don't blame me, love made me crazy / lord, save me / i would fall from grace just to touch your face

they say i did something bad, then why's it feel so good?

your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand / i wish to know the fatal flaw that makes you long to be magnificently cursed

i'm drunk in the back of the car and i cried like a baby coming home from the bar said i'm fine but it wasn't true i don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you and i snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate and i scream "for whatever it's worth, i love you; ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?"

there's her repeated instances of "writing from a man's perspective" i.e. betty, the man; which is interesting when in Dear Reader she refers to herself as "a fourth drink in my hand, these desperate prayers from a cursed man" & it's worth noting that this album leaned heavily on the grief of being unknowable to ANYONE and going home alone everyday, even when she....had a boyfriend but i digress because we're getting away from literary analysis. it's worth nothing that evermore also included ivy, which is about how one of the bronte sisters stole their brother's wife

interestingly, she also capitalizes certain letters in the songbooks sent out with physical CDs. some fun ones to note include WHEN I SAW YOU IN HYIANNIS PORT (specifically spelled incorrectly to match the letters of dianna agrons name; dianna also had an alice in wonderland tattoo on her ribs that she got lasered off after Wonderland was released). there are other, similar instances of this.

then there's the things that just plain...don't sound like they're about a man because of the words she uses. not a trump card, but certainly an interesting cherry on top

you're so gorgeous, i can't say anything to your face

i used to switch out these kens, i'd just ghost / it hits different 'cos its you

the lips i used to call home so scarlet it was maroon

hair falling into place like dominos

i don't want you like a best friend

it feels like i'm losing a friend / i can't breathe without you

feels like home, stay in bed the whole weekend; its nice to have a friend

i hate accidents except when we went from friends to this

it's interesting that she "went from friends to this" when there's no evidence her and joe knew each other at all before dating. actually, friends to this is more of a gay thing.

then there's things that seem like clear flagging.

her hair dyed the bi pride colors in You Need to Calm Down mv

the miss americana documentary in which she lists things that make her her, amongst them "cowboy boots, rainbows, gay pride"

her midnights merch included a bracelet that just says PRIDE with the bi flag

i heard that the Eras tour starts out with the lesbian flag colors splashed on the stage

fun fact: if you lay out each color she lists in maroon, you get lesbian flag colors (rose, burgundy, scarlet, rust, maroon, ruby)

some throwaway things that are i think are funny gaylor "evidence":

starting out reputation with "you & me got big reputations and would be a big conversation" when no one knew who joe was at all

the chorus of this song: "they don't know about the night in the hotel, they weren't riding in the car when we both fell, didn't read the note on the polaroid picture, they don't know how much i miss..........you"

referring to red lips in maroon when she's never dated a man with lips, let alone red lips

she advocates for gay rights & taylor never speaks up about anything that doesn't affect her

[gildead]

it's @chounaifu's turn to jumpscare me... with positivity!

Rex’s Gardening Service here. Loamy Soil: Hi Vetra, what’s it like being the funniest person on this god forsaken website??? Okay but seriously, fuck, you are so FUNNY and you’re SO MUCH FUN to talk to on Discord. When you first followed me on Gold, I was like “no fucking way lol” because I could NOT believe that somebody was RPing such an obscure Creepypasta character! I thought he had been forgotten to the sands of time. I still cannot believe that such a silly joke like Banana Proton has become. . . . Canon lore. This is why I love RP, honestly. You help remind me that not everything has to be serious and rigid— that we’re here to have fun and laugh together. Thanks for making me laugh! Sun Light: Let me preface this with: it is SO hard to write muses with horror themes, especially when people are turned off by it. I appreciate your drabbles, and the layers of suspense that are attached to them. I ache for Gold whenever I read them. At the same time, you keep this happy air around him, despite the struggles and hardships he’s faced. It’s a lot of fun. He’s a lot of fun. This blog is a lot of fun. I’m really glad that you’re active here! Drizzle from the watering can: Talk about some of your favorite RP threads!

REX WHAT THE HELL THIS IS SO NICE...?

gonna answer the RP threads question under the cut because otherwise this post is gonna get long as hell. this isn't even a comprehensive list of everything.

literally anything with wolf and @koopaklaw (and @peachycrown), to the point where a certain Wolf quote still lives in our heads rent-free.

for that measure, literally anything with my main fox at the time, especially when he came to rescue my wolf (the mun knows who they are but i'm leaving them anonymous so the space furry fandom leaves us alone)

Also ANYTHING with Lucina and Henri's Chrom. Literally both of them being trans was such a big brain move on our parts, tbh, but I think a standout has to be Lucina trying to dance around the Morgans' existence with Chrom to prevent fucking up the timeline.

ALSO LUNEA. SHOUT OUT TO LUNEA. that thread was so good.

Ripley's Byleth and my Edelgard talking about church doctrine and how fucked up it is.

Bri's Ferdinand and my Edelgard post-killing Ludwig von Aegir.

There was a really good Edelgard one I did over Discord DMs. Unfortunately, it was with the antisemitic purple rat's Claude, so that one no longer counts.

Triandra fighting both @madeimpact's Pit AND @sternenteile in different threads because I had to change nOTHING about their lore to make things work. They're so versatile.

@gottgenug's jeralt and my shez, especially the one where jeralt finds out about arval. i love the dad.

Basically all of Reginn and Eitri's threads because Book V of had no right having such good worldbuilding. Also I hadn't written a villain in a while back then so Eitri was a lot of fun.

deep cut here, but my Rowdyruff Boys and @molinguish were. so so good.

Another deep cut, and maybe a weird choice considering the context, but during the ending of 2020 when The Great RPC Fuckening of November went down, a certain thread featuring Bunnie squaring off against the antisemitic purple rat and beating his ass was my happy place for an entire month. If you know, you know.

Gold and ALL of his fellow creepypastas shooting the shit has been so good. We need more creepypastas. It's 2023, embrace the cringe.

Of course, Gold and his little found family of @wariodemambo, @rosadolces, @queenshokora, and Papeeno @thetravelershub (feat. Peepaw @emptyzone).

And, an honorable mention since it wasn't a real thread, but:

YOU. ME. BANANA PROTON.

[marjaystuff]

Elise Cooper Interviews Daryl Wood Gerber

A Hint of Mischief by Daryl Wood Gerber is a well written cozy mystery. This is the third installment of the series. It has a murder, delightful characters, and an inviting setting that is very magical. If readers believe in fairies, instead of clapping their hands, they should read these novels. If people do not believe that fairies exist, they can read this one and let their imagination take over. 

There are three mysteries to solve for the main character Courtney Kelly, the owner of the store Open Your Imagination, a gift shop in the community of Carmel-by-the-Sea, in California. She is trying to find a murderer, a thief who is robbing nearby stores, and the person leaving fairy “doors” around town. 

The plot has socialite Misty Dawn recruiting a fairy garden specialist, Courtney, to host a fairy-themed 40th birthday party for her sorority sisters. When one of the sisters, Farrah Lawson turns up dead, apparently a poisoning victim, the police have questions for Twyla Waterman, who was seen in the vicinity not long before the body’s discovery, and a former cult member. Both Courtney and her fairy friend Fiona believe Twyla would not hurt a fly.  Determined to prove her innocence they set out to find the real culprit along with finding the thief and the maker of the fairy doors. Since there are plenty of suspects to go around, Courtney and Fiona have their hands full.

The author throws readers a lot of curve balls to keep them guessing. Because of a wide cast of characters, both human and fairy alike, the cast of characters at the beginning of the novel is very welcome. 

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Daryl Wood Gerber:  At the beginning of Covid I was at a cocktail party.  I spoke to someone who told me they had a Fairy party for her daughter.  After seeing the pictures, I thought I must do this for adults. I came up with the idea that sorority sisters at a reunion would do it to have some fun.  Then, of course one of them is murdered. 

EC:  How did you get the idea for the murder?

DWG:  Someone known as “The Poison Lady” gives talks. She was very helpful about poisons.  I only used poisoning once before in another series.  The plot surrounds how did the poison get into the victim. I did a lot of research on the different poisons I could use.

EC: Is it more difficult to find fairy quotes at the beginning of each chapter?

DWG:  I must have quotes over 75 to 100 years for copywriting reasons.  Everything I am finding is written pre-1920.  I bought some fairy poem books and googled as well.  Some of the poems are twenty stanzas long so I could piece them apart to maybe get four or five quotes out of them. At some point I will start writing fairy quotes.  The one at the beginning of chapter 17 is made up by me. It says, “Is a fairy a demoted angel, or is an angel a fairy reunited with its Maker?” Some of them are anonymous, which we can use as well.

EC:  How would you describe fairies-are they like children?

DWG:  In this book they fear noises, they tease, and they sing. They are very impish, very playful, and curious.  The Fairy Queen is more like an Angel. 

EC:  How would you describe Farrah Lawson, the victim?

DWG: She has turned forty and is a very popular actress.  She is a go-getter, pompous, full of herself, and dismissive. She likes to belittle. Farrah has a dark side, can be a diva, spiteful, and is self-centered. Farrah became the mean girl.

EC:  Fairy door versus fairy rings?

DWG:  A fairy door is what people put at the base of trees.  I put them in a lot of my gardens. Usually, people leave messages or pieces of food for the fairies so they can come and bring good wishes. A fairy ring allows humans to step from their world to the fairy world after the portal opens. 

EC:  There is a large community in this series?

DWG:  In any cozy mystery the population grows. Each time a book is written it cannot be about the same seven people. My basics are Courtney, Fiona the Fairy, Pixie the cat, Josh, Meaghan, Brady, and Dylan the cop. It is almost unavoidable in a cozy to have a large community. In a TV mystery there are also the basics, but there are people that do not have any names. But if it were a book those people with speaking lines must have a name. The difference between TV and a book is that in a novel the people must be anchored visually. There is a world in a cozy mystery. 

EC:  What about the Sherlock Holmes comment?

DWG:  Fairies are very intelligent and want to learn.  Josh is a big fan of reading and has Fiona reading Sherlock Holmes.  In the next book Fiona will be reading a lot more Shakespeare. With each book I want Fiona to get wiser and wiser, absorbing the material in books like a sponge.

EC:  Next book?

DWG:  It is titled Flicker Doubt, coming out this same time next year. The plot has a theater foundation tea requesting Courtney bring fairy garden stuff.  One of the artists there is killed.  He is very dark, gloomy, and temperamental. Meaghan’s art gallery partner is seen as a person of interest.

THANK YOU!!Elise 

[sserpente]

do you think people who have a cnc kink are sick and disgusting? me and my friends were talking about nsfw stuff and basically one thing led to another and we were talking about kinks all of a sudden and we fell upon this article which mentioned cnc.. we got curious and looked up about that particular kink more and in conclusion, one of my friends think that ppl who have/do that are sick--i dont think so though. how about you? (u dont have to answer this if u dont feel comfortable and thanks so much in advance)

NSFW post ahead!

Heavens, no! If your friends called it sick and disgusting, they were kink-shaming, it's as simple as that. That's quite ignorant and rude. Unfortunately, when some individuals in our society encounter something they can't identify with, they will call it weird or worse things and try to find a reason as to why it should be wrong. We see the same thing happen with religions, racism, fashion and many other themes. Some may go as far as claiming that people with "darker" kinks all have a trauma of sorts but let me assure you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you and not everything is trauma either. There doesn't always have to be a reason for why you enjoy certain things. Sometimes you just do.

You will have noticed that I too write and/or read stories here on Tumblr that have dub-con or non-con warnings. Enjoying these types of stories online doesn't reflect what you believe in, what your principles are or what your real sex life is like. They are fantasies, nothing more or less. Harmless fantasies where ultimately, you are in control of the situation (you can always stop reading or simply press Pause). As for real life, that's why safewords are so important. In fiction, when you read or write dub-con/non-con, there is no need for "resolving" the "scene" with aftercare because it's already a fictional setting.

It's just that in our society, rape is a delicate topic. And for good reason. Rape is NEVER okay. CNC (consensual non-consent or rape play for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term), however, is a common kink in BDSM. It can be exciting and arousing for many and if it's carried out in real life, as long as both partners consent to playing/pretending and safewords are in place so they can stop the "scene" anytime, there is nothing wrong with it. Have you ever seen a couple playfighting because it's fun to tease each other? To run from each other? Well, some couples like to take it further. It's all pretense and there is, in fact, a lot of porn out there thematising CNC. If you are up for that, just give it a quick Google search. It's a lot more common than you might think. You're not alone. There is also a really good documentary called "Kink" on BDSM produced by James Franco which I really recommend on this topic. You should be able to find it online, however, bear in mind that it's very explicit... it's a documentary about porn after all.

If you are female (or identify as female), another thing that makes me furious about this topic as a feminist is that especially women are being shamed for their kinks. There are still so many old-fashioned and sexist views and assumptions deeply interwoven into our society resulting in some going as far as making women believe they're not allowed to have sexual fantasies, especially not if they're dark. But who are you to tell me what I can and cannot fantasise about? Who are you to make decisions over what I can and cannot do with my body? It's not real. It does not reflect my real wishes.

I strongly believe that it's the people who are kink-shaming because they are unable to keep reality and fantasy apart, who should seek help--because that is when it gets dangerous.

There is a really good book out there called "My Secret Garden" by Nancy Friday. It was published in 1973, so a few things are quite outdated but its premise is still very relevant and it covers both an introduction dealing with this very topic I just touched upon and a collection of women's sexual fantasies. You read those, you'll think yours are harmless, trust me.

Ultimately, BDSM and CNC roleplay in real life are based on trust and respect for one another in a romantic/sexual relationship (or a professional and safe work environment if it's porn). That is how it is acceptable ONLY. If it's not for you, that's fine. Just keep in mind that others can still enjoy those things. You don't owe kink-shamers an explanation if it's their ignorance trying to make you feel bad about yourself. 🤗

[dahniwitchoflight]

KH: What is Namine Really?

See also my other post: KH: What is Repliku/Riku Replica Really? https://dahniwitchoflight.tumblr.com/post/649102821124440064

Since I’m continuing my sudden Kingdom Hearts kick sparked by me rewatching all the cinematics for all the games thus far lately and watching all the story cins for KH UX since that’s gonna be relevant to the next games

I just feel I have to re-make this post about what Namine really is, because calling her Kairi’s Nobody has never made sense from the start when you think about it

When Kairi loses her heart in KH1 in the beginning, her body and soul specifically doesn’t get transported to the world that never was like all other nobodies, it’s stays in the realm of Light because Kairi is a princess of Heart, we know this, we see Riku lugging around her corpse throughout the whole game, we keep tabs on it constantly up until the point Sora gives Kairi back her heart and Kairi is re-completed again

KH1′s lore will state that it’s at this moment when Kairi is recompleted that Namine was born, but from what?

Sora’s Body+Soul became Roxas, they make it clear in KH2 that Sora and Roxas is a half and half deal, and when they go back together Sora is complete again.

But in KH1 the only reason Sora was able to maintain his form, was because his Heartless maintained his strong will

Kairi couldn’t have done the same, because as a Princess of Heart she had no darkness, so she couldn’t have had a heartless form

so if Sora’s Heart = Sora

Sora’s Body+Soul = Roxas

Kairi’s Heart = Inside Sora’s Heart

Kairi’s Body+Soul = An Unconscious Kairi

So literally what is left of Kairi to make Namine?

Consider that Kairi has one thing that Sora does not have, a Heart with a Pure Light inside of her, and not just any Pure Light, the thing that makes her a Princess of Heart, and as of KH3, this Pure Light, one of seven Pure Lights, can and do move on to different princesses

The princess from KH1 are the old holder’s of the Pure Lights, the Pure Lights moved on to different princesses in KH3, while the originals still remain full beings pure of heart even without the Pure Lights, the Pure Lights are just a special thing that exists within them that can be passed on to others

but in KH3′s Kairi’s Pure Light stays within her Pure Heart, now why would that be?

A Pure Light, one that specifically cannot exist inside a heart filled with Darkness

Consider that, way back in KH1, when Kairi’s Heart first entered Sora. Sora had Darkness in his heart just being a normal dude, and the Pure Light could no coexist within it

So when Kairi’s heart enters Sora’s, the Pure Light crosses through Sora’s heart and then is ejected somewhere else, Castle Oblivion, and then continues to exist, as Namine

Consider that even though KH1 says Namine and Roxas started to exist at the same time, when Sora Released his Heart and became a Heartless,

We see Roxas’s origins, and he’s a complete zombie, barely existing at the start of Days

and yet Namine the first we see of her in Chain of Memories, seems to have already existed and already gained her own desires and feelings by the time CoM has even started

The whole game is put into motion, because Namine was manipulated into changing up memories to become friends with Sora and Riku

When you consider the timeline with Days, that would have to mean in a very short period of time

Namine would have to appear in Castle Oblivion, be found by Org 13, grow enough of a personality to want things, specifically, the feeling of loneliness, demonstrate her power to change memories in some way, and be manipulated into starting the plot of Chain of Memories, all while Roxas is still basically a zombie

To me, it just makes more sense to say that Namine existed at an earlier point than Roxas did

All this together, I believe Namine is what happened when Kairi’s Pure Light got dipped into Sora’s Memories way back at the start of KH1

and since as of Days we know a full heart can be seeded by nothing but a sprinkling of scattered memories as it’s origins, Namine’s Heart must have grown the same way

Also, it explains why Namine’s so pure white themed and has blonde hair, that can’t really be explained by a connection to Sora’s heart, because he’s a brunette, and even Ventus’s/Roxas’s hair isn’t as Light as Namine’s

But wait you say, A Pure Light can’t make a person, there’s nothing of substance to even make anything there

But DiZ himself explains that Namine is a special nobody, less then a nobody, less then nothing, the most fleeting of all the fleeting shadows

and then yknow, Vanitas is a thing

If all Vanitas is, is a manifestation of Ventus’s Darkness torn apart from him

Then why couldn’t Namine be a manifestation of Kairi’s Pure Light?

Consider also, that of all the people who could be said to be a part of another person, or a special other half, Vanitas and Namine are the only ones given special unique true names, when everyone else, even Xion, is given an anagrammed X name, from “No. i”

and they are the only beings that come with their own unique color schemes, specifically Black for Dark Vanitas, and White for Light Namine

and the only beings that have unique special powers stemming from their unique origins

Vanitas powers over dark emotions, stemming from how the darkness in hearts contain their negative emotions

Namine with her powers over memories, because shared memories are the pieces of light inside hearts that connect different hearts to each other

and then the final nail in the coffin for me, is during the prologue for KH Union X, when Kairi’s Grandmother is telling baby Kairi about the legends of the age of fairytales, when she gets to the part about talking about the “Pure Lights that exist in the hearts of Children” remaking the world

Namine’s Theme starts playing, ever so briefly, even though Namine is nowhere pictured in this scene or has anything to do with this story

Except, if you consider her Origins as a being made from a Pure Light

https://youtu.be/z6NVTZlqw1k?list=PLPCJnwphQDQcJOkD9OsmxxMHX7YHE4WP2&t=70

and since Namine is still within Kairi for all of KH3, Kairi’s “Pure Light” remains within her as well

So that’s my theory and I’m sticking with it

Namine is thematically and symbolically basically the full opposite of what Vanitas is

A dark flavored Sora made from ripping all the darkness out of a person’s heart

and a light flavored Kairi made from the Pure Light inside Kairi being ejected from a person’s heart

but while Ventus becomes half a being without vanitas, since the darkness is part of his own Heart, Namine can exist outside of Kairi, both being full beings of their own, since the Pure Light is something external that Kairi’s heart held onto for a time, and is something that she can live without *EDIT*

one last thing as well, to do with how Kairi went from Radiant Garden to Destiny Islands and how Namine ended up in Castle Oblivion when she was first born

when BBS Sleep came out, Kairi met Aqua and Aqua cast a spell on her saying “One day when you’re in trouble, the Light within you will lead you to the Light of another”

and people were content to assume this means Aqua is the reason Kairi ended up in Destiny Island’s one day since the spell took her to see Sora/Riku the keyblade duh

but then, Melody of Memory came out, and it was revealed that actually Terra-Xehanort purposefully kidnapped Kairi as a child and he sent her directly to Destiny Islands

so then, what was the point of Aqua’s magic spell?

well, for one, it was cast on “The Light” within Kairi, which this theory posits went on to become Namine

and well, Namine as the Pure Light had to end up at Castle Oblivion one way or another when she was first ejected from Sora and Kairi’s Hearts right?

So what if when Destiny Island’s fell to darkness, and Kairi’s heart went inside Sora, That’s when Aqua’s spell triggered for the Light Inside Kairi, and it sent that Pure Light to another “light” one that Aqua knew: Ventus!

Who at this point was sleeping inside the transformed land of Departure aka Castle Oblivion

Therefore, when Namine was “Born”, Aqua’s spell triggered and she landed somewhere near Ventus’s hidden room in Castle Oblivion

Ta-Dah!

~Things mean one thing in the present, and mean a different thing in the future!~

[theggning]

Codsworth Is So Underrated, You Guys

ALTERNATE TITLE: Codsworth and the Totally Understated Mindbending Evolution of Artificial Consciousness

I find Codsworth is often the most underrated of the 16 companions in Fallout 4. Your faithful robot butler is among the very first you can recruit and an excellent early-game ally, but he has a few disadvantages in gameplay that mean he’s often sent back to Sanctuary before long. Codsworth is a mid-to-close range fighter only, cannot wear armor or be equipped with weapons. He cannot be healed by stimpak, which makes him a liability if you’re playing on Survival mode. He has no companion quest of his own, so unless you particularly enjoy him there’s not a compelling reason to keep him for a long time. He also becomes recruitable exactly 2 minutes after adorable puppy Best Boy Dogmeat, so he is often (understandably) replaced just as soon as he’s made available.

But there is this great, completely understated facet to Codsworth, so understated that the game does not draw attention to it in any way. And yet, it is a wonderful reflection of many of the themes of Fallout 4 and, I believe, a pretty strong indication of its thesis statement.

Now what in the hell am I talking about?

Like many sci-fi/fantasy universes, the Fallout series is home to many highly-advanced robots. Robots were commonplace before the Great War, and many have survived the bombs intact and in working order. Others have been built or modified by wastelanders to serve various tasks (Percy, Ada.) The most important thing to understand about robots, though, is though they may have vivid personalities programmed in, they are widely accepted to be objects. They are thought of the same way as an appliance, a machine built for a specific purpose and programmed to follow a strict set of protocols.

Many jokes revolve around the relatively rigid intelligence of robots. Pre-War, many were deployed in inappropriate jobs or designed haphazardly (Mister Handies acting as nurses in a hospital, “paramedic” Protectrons with massive deadly tasers for hands, military robots constantly going haywire and erupting in friendly fire.) Others continue to man businesses and play out daily tasks as they were programmed to do over 200 years ago. Most robots are incapable of understanding anything beyond their initial programming, and most pre-War robots are completely unaware that the Great War ever happened.

When the Sole Survivor reunites with Codsworth at the ruins of their home, it seems like he, too, doesn’t understand what’s going on. He talks about tending the (dead) garden, references the (ghoulified) neighbors, and generally acts like the chipper robot butler Sole left behind on their way to Vault 111.

But there is something slightly… off in Codsworth’s dialogue here. Though he acts like the war never happened, he also specifically mentions details that suggest it did:

Player Default: Codsworth! You're still... fully operational?          

Codsworth: {Defiant} Well of course, mum. You can thank the fine engineers at General Atomics for that! At least, you could have. Had they not been... vaporized.

A bit over 210 actually, mum. Give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to the ole' chronometer. That means you're two centuries late for dinner! Ha ha ha. Perhaps I can whip you up a snack? You must be famished.

You've no idea the desperation for human contact one develops over 200 years. {Upset, recalling bad memories of encountering raiders and scavengers. / Disgust} And when you do encounter them? Oh the cruelty! You're either... target practice or... spare parts!

Even stranger, Codsworth mentions details that are plainly made-up (or some kind of delusion):

Codsworth: It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers. Or perhaps charades. Shaun does so love that game. Is the lad... with you...?   

Player Default: Codsworth... listen to me carefully... have you seen him? Have you seen Shaun?              

Codsworth: Why, sir had him last, remember? Perhaps he's gone to the Parker residence to arrange a play-date?

(Shaun is an infant. He is too young to play charades or to go to the neighbors for a play-date.)

So at once, Codsworth does and does not acknowledge the war. He does and does not seem to understand what’s happened, and he does and does not seem to follow Sole’s urgency regarding their spouse’s death and Shaun’s kidnapping.

And then, after a speech check, Codsworth finally snaps and breaks down sobbing in despair. Not only does he understand that the war happened, he has developed the ability to get depressed about it. Longing for human contact and with nothing else to do, he’s even developed coping mechanisms to help him try to deal with his loneliness and despair—futilely trying to do his chores and deluding himself into pretending everything is completely normal.

Wait a minute. Sobbing? Despair? Depression? Coping mechanisms and delusions? This Is all pretty sophisticated stuff to be programmed into a robot, and if you spend more time with Codsworth, the reality of what’s happened to him becomes apparent:

Codsworth has evolved beyond his programming. In his 210 lonely years of existence, he has developed emotional reactions and self-awareness far beyond that of most other robots, and, indeed, has basically evolved an artificial consciousness.

“Emergent intelligence” is the theoretical ability of an AI to eventually develop something resembling human thought processes, and it seems that our dear Codsworth has undergone this. Traveling with him, he displays many sophisticated thoughts and behaviors far beyond what most robots are shown to be capable of. He has memories of pre-War time and places, and understands how various locations have changed. He is capable of learning new information and forming opinions on it, gaining his own understanding of the people and factions in the Commonwealth. He can feel happiness, sorrow, fear, disgust. He can anticipate things, predict danger and imagine how people might respond to your actions. The mere he fact he has opinions and a moral code that he applies to you shows he has free will, something even other robot companions don’t (Ada has a personality, but absolutely does not care about your actions.)

He’s also smart enough to make many wry observational jokes, and to lay one hell of a sick burn on you:

{Joking - Found an old bowling alley. / Amused} Fancy a game, mum? Something tells me the bumpers are no longer available.

 Codsworth’s intelligence is even more sophisticated than that. He displays stunning self-awareness, frequently referencing the fact he is a robot and what that means. He is very proud of his background as General Atomics’ finest, and seems pleased with his robot nature and his lot in life. (Unlike Curie, I don’t think Codsworth would ever really want to gain a synth body. He seems quite happy as he is.)

Here he is making reference to still feeling the tug of his programming:

{Seeing an office with chairs arranged in a circle. / Neutral} I've the most incredible urge to rearrange those chairs in a more perfect circle.

Understanding when other robots are restricted by theirs:

A pity. It appears Deezer's programming is too severe to allow for normal conversation. Ah well.

And when they’re actually not:

Codsworth: Greetings, sir. Good to see another robot in town. That chef hat becomes you.

Takahashi: Nan-ni shimasho-ka?

Codsworth: Takahashi you say? I'm Codsworth, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.

Takahashi: Nan-ni shimasho-ka?              

Codsworth: Is that so? Well, we both know RobCo is no General Atomics. It's not surprising it failed, shoddy work and all.  {Friendly - trying to cheer up another robot. / Friendly} Chin up, though. Never know when parts may turn up.

 And here’s Galaxy Brain Codsworth ruminating on his own state of being and contemplating his nature:

{Disappointed that he can't be 100% human sometimes. / Sad} It's unfortunate that I lack the proper design to consume liquids. Something about camaraderie over a few drinks is very inviting.            

I suppose if I had the hardware, I'd have the software as well. I'd hate to see how that'd affect my honesty and manner settings.

{Reconsidering what he thought was a good idea. / Thinking} Indeed. Perhaps I should rethink my initial desire.

Hilariously, Codsworth does not seem fully aware of how remarkable his intelligence is. He occasionally says things like “if I had feelings” and “if I could feel things,” indicating that in some ways he still believes he is only a robot and defines himself by what a robot is and does.

But as we can see, our humble robot butler has essentially evolved to become the smartest, most emotionally intelligent and person-like robot in the Commonwealth*, and potentially in the series.

([SIDE NOTE: Other FO4 robots nearing Codsworth’s level of consciousness and developed personality include Captain Ironsides, KLE-O, Whitechapel Charlie, and perhaps Takahashi. Curie is close, but also receives the unfair advantage of being uploaded into a synth body with a human brain. Jezebel also functions off of a human brain. Nick is not a robot, he’s a synth (though he does jokingly refer to himself as one) and also has the advantage of a human brain encoded on his processor.])

Also hilariously, the game basically does not acknowledge Codsworth’s impressive evolution. At all. There is absolutely no direct mention of it in the script. It is all left to ambient dialogue and the player’s own observations. And because so many people overlook Codsworth as a companion, they may not even realize exactly how unique his expanded consciousness is.

Now, you might call this total lack of mention a mistake, an oversight on Bethesda’s part, or that old chestnut “bad writing.” I don’t think it is. I think it’s a deliciously subtle little detail to include in a story about humanity, machines, artificial intelligence, and what makes a person.

Many of the themes of FO4 revolve around synths—distinctly not robots, but androids, artificially created beings with fully organic human bodies. Most of the storyline factions have strong beliefs about synths and the relative humanity thereof. The Institute believes that synths are objects, tools, machines no different from a robot who are only simulating their personalities through programming. The Brotherhood believes synths are monstrous abominations, a danger to humanity itself, technology run amok which needs to be destroyed. The Railroad believes they are people. Not humans, but people, built instead of born, free-thinking beings that deserve to be treated with respect and given rights.

Through quests, dialogue, notes, worldbuilding and other venues, players explore these questions. What makes someone a person? If your personality and memories can be rewritten or programmed, then who are you, really? Where do we draw the line between humans and machines, and how do we decide who belongs where?

Meanwhile, as the player contemplates the nature of personhood and the definition of intelligence, their robot butler quietly evolves into a fully-conscious person on his own, right beside them.

Codsworth is unquestionably a machine, but also unquestionably beyond the appliance he was built to be. Which to some philosophies and players should really beg a few other questions. If a robot can be considered a person, then what makes synths so different? And how many excuses do we have to make to pretend otherwise?

Ya boy Codsworth may not be flashy, or powerful, or kissable. He may not be the most glamorous companion around. But he is a good friend, a beloved member of the family, and above all else, a loyal butler—content to serve, quietly and humbly doing his job where some may never even notice him-- or the fact that he’s casually become his own person and sent generations of roboticists and philosophers spinning in their graves.

[evarcana]

Courtiers + Christmas

Sorry, dear anon, it took me ages 😓 well at least I did it before xmas, right?

To avoid the whole discourse about why the bunch of demons and one morally corrupted human are celebrating Christmas, I should say that this is based on the MC inviting the courtiers to celebrate together.

Valdemar🎄😈

Not like they usually pay attention to silly human holidays. But if it is you inviting... “how delightful” - of course Valdemar is coming. The problem is that in their millennia of existence being busy with their research they sort of missed out on what Christmas was about. “MC, don’t give me that look, this is all fairly new”, you don’t even want to what is old for them. But it’s Valdemar so they lock themselves in dungeons and put all their inhuman determination into researching Christmas.

Valdemar’s research is ...advanced. After they excitingly start telling you whether you knew that red in decorations symbolises blood, you decide it’s time to intervene, hand Valdemar list of gifts to buy and encourage them to return to their usual work (who would believe you would ever say it).

They turn to the party/dinner dressed as Santa (or whatever equivalent). Are you shocked? Erm yes... But why are other guests loving it ?! Well they did become sort of xmas expert in less than a week so you guess it’s okay. Expects lots of stories on how Christmas celebrations developed over the last centuries.

Charms your grandma or elderly auntie by being the only person capable of listening about their chronical conditions and actually engaging on the topic. Your little niece/neighbour’s kid loves them too - they expertly removed all those bits of turkey leg they don’t like to eat in less than 5 seconds. Everybody loves them. But Valdemar still spends most of the time telling what a fascinating specimen you are.

When it comes to gift exchange part, you are glad that they only added a few medical books, plague masks and antiseptics to the list, could be worse.., but where is yours present? “You, my little silly duckling, are on the naughty list this year” with this Valdemar gently throws you in their sack grabs you and excuses you both from the party. You try to protest but they only say that they played along for long enough and now it’s their turn to play little game with you. Oh well you can leave early one year, it promises to be worth it.

Valerius 🎁🍷

Every year Valerius receives plenty of invitations to winter holidays parties arranged by the nobles but this is the first time he got invitation to something that personal. Tells you that he needs to check his diary and finally reluctantly agrees only because “there was a rather unfortunate cancellation”. But really in his head he is like “Omg does it mean that I am part of the family now? Cancel all plans NOW.”

Then he learns that you plan to have Christmas dinner/party at your place. The consul of Vesuvia to go to that ...shack?? That’s unthinkable: The party will be in his estate, yes he knows that it’s incredibly generous of him to offer and no you cannot refuse.

And this is when things are getting extra. You know that crazy neighbours competitions whose Christmas lights are brighter and decorations are better? That’s Valerius, although he has nobody to compete with really. The massive xmas tree got delivered from who-knows-where and who-knows-how in 2 days, and there is no red, golden or green decoration item left in stock in entire Vesuvia, oh and some the palace’s best cooks suddenly took a sick leave for a week (no it was Valerius promising them triple wages).

You ask Valerius not to get any expensive presents, otherwise you will feel bad, he did indeed agree that it was reasonable suugestion. Everybody gets presents more expensive than life. The guests surpringly find Valerius a very good host, this might have something to do with those gifts which were definitely extra or with the fact that everybody got merry in like 20 min thanks to all the fancy wine. Valerius is gossip central, argues about politics with your annoying uncle and plays board games with children.

Insists that it would be better if you stay overnight and not travel home late. Falls asleep in chair with drink in hand like an old man. Later that chair somehow migrates to the hallway by the guest bedroom, under the strategically placed mistletoe. Wait, where did red silky robes come from? All planned. Let’s hope that the unfortunate relative of yours is not staying in the same guestwing.

Vlastomil 🎅🏻 🪱

It’s lovely of you to invite him but he is a busy worm man and cannot really leave his children alone. Maybe he can just stop by? “No, MC! Don’t get offended!!”

Then he learns that Christmas is usually about family, does it mean that his children can come as well?? Ugh while you are mumbling something about that worms may not be very comfortable at your place, Vlastomil decides that the Christmas party will be held in his garden so the worms everybody can enjoy it.

Prepare to have a ...thematic Christmas. There is white xmas tree decorated with the shimmery worms and candy canes which have worms wrapped around them. Okay, even you are not the biggest fan of worms you have to admit that the ice sculptures of worms are quite impressive. He even has little nativity scene but with the worms.

Everybody receives crystal tree decoration baubles with live worms inside. Everybody is shocked. Vlastomil explains that it’s only stocking fillers and there are more gifts. (Also crystal baublesare only for transportation, the worms need to be free range, how dare you). The actual gifts are... amazing. Somebody got a scarf that they liked but didn’t have enough money to buy on that day, another person got a album of pin up pictures of snake women even if it was supposed to be a secret interest of theirs and you got that sparkly princess teara you cried for your parents to buy at age 5 but they never did (cmon, x years later, you still like it).

Some little child says that Vlastomil is like Santa with how you he magically read people’s wishes (there there, little one, it’s just the power of gossip), but Vlastomil is vibing: wiggler gets elf outfit from somewhere and you get lots of invitations to “come to sit on Santa’s lap”. Yes you can stay there after all the guests leave (and yes you can keep your sparkly teara on).

Volta 🍪🥛

Was secretly dreaming to be invited since at least October. But is still genuinely surprised when you ask her to come. She asks tonnes of questions: who else is coming, are you sure they would like Volta, what are you going to do, will there be food?

Volta wants to help you with all the preparations. Not like she is super useful but she did dig out from the piles of stuff in her estate and bring you lots of old tree decorations and some nice tableware. She basically spends all your time with you in the build up to Christmas: you decorate the house together, make gingerbread houses (well more like you made one house from the 1000s attempt, they all got eaten before they were actually completed) and pack gifts for everybody.

You warned all the guests that there going to be lots of food this year, and no you finally don’t need to worry about what to do with the leftovers and crying “end me, I am sick of having xmas food for 10 days in a row” because they are not going to be any leftovers. But you didn’t expect Volta to turn up with even more food. “Volta does not want anybody to starve on Christmas!”. She surely eats lots but she is also looking after other people lots, passing them plates with food (just imagine her holding it with both of her tiny hands) and topping up their drinks, she wants everybody to enjoy the dinner.

Everybody at the table is talking of how adorable Volta is, and nobody can even hide tears when Volta presents little hand made gifts that she prepared herself. But Volta humming Christmas carols? How does she even know Christmas carols? This is illegal level of cuteness.

Volta wants to stay to help you to clean up when the dinner is over. It’s quite and it’s only two of you. Oh you might still have some sweet things in the cupboard.

Vulgora🔥🌟

At first super excited to be invited but the next second they ask what is Christmas about and what does it involve. You decorate, eat, chat to people and exchange gifts? That sounds awfully boring to Vulgora. Can they at least smash the tree in the end? What do you mean - NO?!?!

Eager to help too. They need to use their energy somewhere. You are not sure whether it’s the type of help you wanted. You asked them to carry the xmas tree from the market? There are 5 trees in front of the house, one of which is like is almost 10’ tall. You asked them to chop some wood for the fire? Well, there is enough to have a bonfire in the towncentre. But on the positive side, your house is lavishly decorated this year, Vulgora likes the red and golden theme.

Lots of battle stories at the dinner, some of which ...lack xmas spirit a bit. All the gifts are...war themed. Then Vulgora gets bored and wants to fight for the right to cut the turkey/ vegan nut roast, whatever you are having. Oh no. But they can smash nuts with their gauntlets - the guests are impressed and suddenly want more battle stories. On the positive side, it’s definitely not boring this year, Vulgora is load and energetic.

But then suddenly Vulgora suggests you all go outside, when you question them, they say it’s a surprise. It’s hard to believe what you see: they prepared fireworks and sparkle fountains !!! You cannot help but smile watching vulgora excitingly running around setting them all off (but hopefully not setting your house on fire).

You watch firework lighting up the sky with Vulgora hugging you from behind and then..they rugby tackle you to the ground?! Well whether there is snow or not, they want to have a fight. Luckily the fireworks are over and the guests can just...leave you two to it.

[nonehell]

Rags to Witches: A legacy challenge? I'm sure someone else has used this legacy name I'm sorry

This is mostly for me as I haven't been able to find a legacy challenge I loved, but if you see this and wanna do feel free! I'll come back and flesh out future generations later - I want to get to playing.

This challenge works best if you own Outdoor Retreat, GTW, Seasons, Cats & Dogs, City Living, and Cottage Living.

Overarching Rules:

Aging should be enabled, but do whatever speed is best for your play style.

Original sim/heir cannot get an actual career, though spouse and children can

Once you select the first lot to move your starter sim onto they nor any future sims can ever move to a different lot

Beginning with the first heir the original house must remain intact throughout the challenge. Windows/door placements, exterior wall material, and dimensions must remain the same. It is fine to add onto or surround the original structure with walls, or even build a different house on the same lot - but the original structure must remain unchanged and cannot be moved.

The heir can be any child born or adopted. Other children should be moved out of the house once they age to young adult.

Don't keep any funds from incoming spouses.

If you don't have a pack I'm using just do your best or ignore that part.

Always complete the listed aspiration for each generation.

Don't cheat to make it easier, where's the fun in that? Cheating to make it harder is A-OK though!

Setting up:

It is recommended that you have MC Command Center installed.

Your original sim can be a young adult or adult of any gender.

The lot should have a run-down theme and appear overgrown at the beginning.

Lot traits: Homey, Sunny Aspect, and Great Soil.

Lot challenges: Off the Grid, Simple Living, and Wild Foxes.

Must place a clothesline, and wash basin once you arrive on the lot.

Start your game in the fall in any non-desert/tropical world.

Generation One: The Rags

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Noncommittal, Loves Outdoors

You've bounced around a lot in your life, moving from job to job and town to town without much of a plan, but when you heard about this huge plot of land being auctioned off it just seemed right. You ended up bidding all of your measly savings and winning, and it was honestly one of the best days of your life.

You start on a new, large, empty plot with a tent and no money.

You can make your money by stealing and selling collectables you find around town.

As soon as possible you should buy a retail lot to sell your (mostly) stolen goods.

You can have multiple partners and there is no limit on children, but it should be one pregnancy per partner.

The child/children should live with the other parent if possible until you have decided on an heir and the heir is a teen, at which point the new heir should move onto the land.

Interact as little as possible with your child until they are an adult.

Build a house which has (at least) 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom.

Generation Two: The Painter

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire

Traits: Creative, Unflirty, Loner

You've always loved being creative, but when you moved in with your estranged parent you really fell in love with painting. You spent a lot of time alone while they were working at their "shop", and you filled all that time with travel and painting.

Money should be earned only by selling paintings.

An effort should be made to paint the land, as well as travel often to paint in other cities/areas.

Add a painting studio onto the house either on the second floor or as a stand-alone building.

Some paintings should be saved to pass along to future generations. Any paintings placed on the wall of the home must remain there.

You should ultimately marry the first person you kiss.

Master the painting skill.

Have three children with your spouse.

Generation Three: The Techie

Aspiration: Computer Whiz

Traits: Geek, Gloomy, Active

Your parent never really even looked at a computer, but for as long as you can remember you've been fascinated.

Earn your money through the computer, either by gaming, programming, or hacking.

Add a basement on to the house with a nice computer setup.

Generation Four: The Vlogger

Aspiration: World-Famous Celebrity

Traits: Self Assured, Hot Headed, Romantic

You learned a lot about computers and technology from your parent, and you're putting all that to good use in your goal to become famous.

Generation Five: The Collector

Aspiration: The Curator

Traits: Paranoid, Hates Children, Self-Absorbed

Growing up with a famous parent isn't always easy, and you really threw yourself into collecting.. everything. Rocks, figures, feathers, frogs - name it and you've probably collected it.

Generation Six: The Romantic

Aspiration: Soulmate

Traits: Family Oriented, Jealous, Insider

Your parent always seemed to love their things more than they loved you, and you vowed to live your life differently. Found a gardening club. Find true love~

Generation Seven: The Farmer

Aspiration: Country Caretaker

Traits: Romantic, Animal Enthusiast, Cheerful

You cannot believe how long this land has been in your family and no one has done anything with it! Now that it's yours you are clearing the land and getting a freaking llama and no one can stop you.

Generation Eight: The Herbalist

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Traits: Vegetarian, Squeamish, Perfectionist

You loved growing up on the farm, and you want to carry on the tradition. You feel more at home with plants than animals, though, so you spend a lot of time working on the garden.

Generation Nine: The Witch

Aspiration: Spellcraft & Sorcery

Traits: Lazy, Genius, Bookworm

You basically grew up brewing potions and you're really not sure why it was a shock to your parent that you ended up getting into sorcery.

[mc-critical]

Hello, I just found your blog and I like it very much, it’s very interesting to read!!!. My question is : what is your opinion on Ahmed and Kosem’s relationship? Do you think he truly loves her? What do you think about him seeing other women? And what do you think about his relationship with these women (Mahfiruz, Katerina, Gulbahar and Yasemin).

Thank you for liking my stuff!

I think that, just like Süleiman, Ahmet loves Kösem in his own way. It's not as toxic or problematic or often questionable writing-wise as Süleiman's love for Hürrem, but it still has both its ups and downs that make it interesting to explore.

Ahmet and Kösem is perhaps the love story where the writers made the most effort to mask the possible worse aspects of. It could even be considered actually romantic at points, with their amazing first scenes in the gardens and the amazing chemistry of Ekin Koç and Anastasia Tsilimpou, the beginning sense of wonder and "mystery" it started out with.... when she first met him, Anastasia didn't know he was the sultan and put all her trust in him - a certainly good first impression. Ahmet himself is also very far from Süleiman's direct endeavors and tests of loyalty, he tries his best to be respectful in his own way, despite that he fails to do that a bunch of times. That's why it's easy to miss the darker aspects of the relationship at first and it could be perceived as probably the only thing in the franchise that is remotely close to a "fairytale" of sorts.

However, when the curtains start to fall slowly, but surely, we come to realize that while, say, Hürrem learns to want what Süleiman wants, to be fully loyal to him and to cave to his demands just like he often caves to her own, Ahmet and Kösem as characters have entirely different values and needs throughout their whole relationship. The fact that Ahmet wanted Anastasia because of a picture, without him having ever met her, is incredibly telling: he has created an ideal of her in his own head from the start and he wants to consistently maintain it. When he's with her, it's as if he's living his own dream, his own perfect world that has place only for him and that young girl. (that's why the garden is so symbolic: Ahmet calls it a place of solitude, only for himself almost immediately after the audience is introduced to it; also that line from him: "The world is on one side, Kösem - on the other." - quoting by memory again, but the meaning is the same) Their world views gained from their past and present environments begin to clash from the moment she finds out he's a Sultan - she wants to desperately go back to her family, both because all of them are still alive and her free spirit that cannot bear to live in this golden cage. Ahmet doesn't let her go also because he lacks the understanding of this desire: he has grown in the strict Ottoman system and having people like Anastasia stay in the harem forever is something he finds perfectly natural; for him it's unthinkable to stand against it. But despite of that "minor offense", Ahmet's idea of Anastasia's "purity" and "perfection" was working for awhile, with her seeming to meet his expectations and slowly warm up to him. But the real truth is way stronger than your own made-up lies. Anastasia's pleas to let her go only get stronger until they reach their climax with her attempt to escape. And you know what? If it weren't for her contrived, yet convenient excuse to come back to him, he would've lost her. Helplessly, in a blink of an eye, he would've lost her, due to what she sees as sheer ignorance from his part. And when she gains her own bit of agency later in the season and becomes Kösem, when she develops and realizes the actual stakes of the game, beginning to play it herself due to survival by default and the will for revenge, Ahmet's "perfect picture" breaks apart and that apparently hurt him so much, he stayed mad at her for quite some time. This wasn't the person he knew and loved anymore, this was an entirely new, reborn woman. He didn't seem to love and respect her for the virtues she actually possessed, but for those that he had imagined her to always have in his head. That is another, more "subtle" level of toxicity than with Hürrem and Süleiman, but it's still toxicity, that's why this relationship is far from healthy and the "beautiful, but quirky" dynamic it sets the impression of.

Kösem's view of Ahmet is very interesting and complex, writing-wise. I actually don't think she grew to love him as much. The place she forcibly got in made her feel very limited by him mostly, since he was the reason she was here in the first place and he was calling the shots in terms of her future (whether she would visit her family or not?). What made her become a bit affectionate wasn't fully him himself, but rather the oh-so-prominent theme of adaption in the harem. She wanted to escape so desperately, but there were so many happenings and situations during the time she was in the harem that just demanded for her to get used to everything. So when Iskender gave her the chance to escape, she as become used to the harem's environment so much, she felt unsure of herself outside of it. Her return was out of necessity rather than love and even her standing up to the people when Ahmet was sick was done out of necessity, too (like I elaborated in another ask about Kösem). I'm not saying that she didn't feel any affection whatsoever, but the affection she felt for him was easy to let go of (E25: "Today I didn't marry only Sultan Ahmet, I married the country!"), because I don't think Ahmet did his best efforts to understand her and I don't think Kösem felt completely comfortable around him, all that contrasted with Kemankeş in S02, who according to her, understands her better than anyone ever could.

Ahmet loves Kösem, because even after his perfect picture with her was broken and his anger and denial and refusal to accept it passed, he did try to make things better. What I loved most about his dynamic with Kösem, is his open honesty with her that continued till the end. There have been scenes where they seemed like true companions, especially their beginning one in E21 with all the kids gathered around them. I loved that despite of his mistakes, he did try to set things right. There was this sudden protectiveness that activated in him when Kösem told him the truth about the death of his father and why she acted the way she did and that could mean she now became something of a "cinnamon roll he just protect" and that is certainly a flawed mindset to have in many aspects, but that showed he could actually care for her beyond his idealistic perspective of her.

Am I okay with Ahmet having other women? Honestly, I'm glad that MCK lowered the concubine arcs to a minimum and with the way they did it, it doesn't offend me as much. I would even love some of them to be more developed for a change, because they did turn out to be solely drama tools, thanks to their lesser episodes and MCK's different themes as a whole, that basically did their purpose and left, instead of stretch out and outstay their welcome and that is just the other extreme in a bad disguise.

I won't talk about the relationship he had with his other women as much, because they just aren't fleshed out. I would've liked to see more of Ahmet and Mahfiruze: I believe he was way more decent with her than say, Süleiman was with Mahidevran, and their scenes weren't half bad. Too bad that would've demanded Mahfiruze herself to be fleshed out more as a character and the writers to give her more of a place in the narrative. Katerina was present only for an episode (or was it two episodes?) and we don't have as much conclusions to drive here. We only have his mild infatuation with her and... that's it? We have no idea what Katerina actually felt or how their dynamic would play out in the long run. We can only speculate. Gülbahar, by contrast, also had the least screentime of all his women who have comparatively minimal screentime, but her exploration in S02 helps us gain a better idea of how it went between them. I have the impression that she was the least favourite concubine of Ahmet's, ever. She did succeed to get pregnant and have a child, but it probably was a one and done thing and she didn't seem to get any other grasp of manly affection since then. Which is why, along with them taking away Bayezid from her by exiling her, she was so focused on scheming for one particular goal and this became what defined her. But then again, that is still a speculation in my part. Now, with Yasemin we have much more on-screen chemistry and interaction: that relationship felt very similar with what Süleiman thought of Firuze - infatuation, massive infatuation, but still not love, because just like Firuze, Yasemin also gave him poison and we don't know how much the poison affected his psyche, along with the sickness it brought upon him. These relationships have the opposite problem MC's concubine arcs had: these women were all unfavored or favored very temporarily in the span of an episode or two, which made them very stale and lacking in material.

Lastly, while MCK in its entirety, isn't very big on love stories, Kösem and Ahmet's relationship still had an evolution throughout S01, even if that evolution was more "condensed" than the others similar to it. It still remains the most fleshed out love story in the show, along with Kösem and Kemankeş's, and it was a very important part of the story that helped shape much of the narrative that succeeds it.

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep6: Joey Wheeler is on Fire, Yet Again

Came down with a little sickness-not the biggie, just a little sly guy. But I took some meds, I’m a little floaty, I’ve only been listening to baroque music all morning for some reason? And I hate baroque music usually? But I’ll leave it to bro to tell me if this is fluid enough.

Just so you know, these caps were kind of a hot mess for a while and some of them read like that Garfield in of hot eat the food comic until...today. So pls don’t judge me, Judge my damn DMV where no one was following Covid regulations because I’m pretty sure that’s where I got this damn cold.

We start off with Roland getting more attention than he ever has in his entire life. Like honestly, I don’t know what Roland’s job really is...but he’s got a very diverse set of very useless skills. One of which, is knowing how to announce sports games that aren’t really a sport, while those games he’s announcing slowly fall into chaos.

Anyway, Roland’s taking so long cherishing his sweet time before everything goes to hell, that he’s boring Joey, who’s kinda turned into a ball of stress in the waiting room.

A lot of this episode is us watching them watching Joey having a break down moment by moment, TBH.

(read more under the cut)

Yugi telling Joey to study his cards and straight up--what?

Like at this point they know what’s on the cards, right? Like there comes a point where even Yugioh cards have a finite amount of words and I’m just going to assume that like...Joey probably knows them all in his own deck, right?

(bro note: they have no limit on what they will put on a card)

Then again, maybe Yugi doesn’t know what “study” means?

Also, appreciate how some artist crosshatched the hell on Joey’s nose there and I zoomed out and ruined it.

Now for some reason every duelist is hanging out in the duel lodge, including our current arch-villain guy who’s brought a book. I want to know what book this guy even reads so no one could suspect he’s actually a hacker who uses computers. He’s reading romance, right? And I don’t think he’d even be into Twilight, I think he’s straight up into hard core Mom romance like a lame ass Nicholas Sparks over there reading “Dear John” for the millionth time because he is completely un-phased by anything else happening in this room.

Joey, our hero, just out there being an asshole for no reason.

After Tea is pushed into a locker or something screaming about her need for female friends (which she screamed in earshot of Rebecca again, who I figured was on friends terms with her after last episode...but I guess not) Leon hops up to remind us that we should be caring about the fact that his character exists.

And like, I love Leon’s hair color--that’s a good choice, and legit that is the color I tried to dye my hair at the beginning of the epidemic (it didn’t work PS, my hair cannot take dye for the life of it) but also like...he just kinda feels like a weak Rebecca as far as characters go. He’s young, he’s good at cards...I think he goes to a private school? That’s all I can think of about Leon.

He mostly just reminds us that the big prize of this tourney is to duel Yugi, who anyone could have dueled at any point even without the tournament.

On the way out of the...duel room? lounge? Area? Joey decides to like...make peace with Zigfried, and I gotta tell you, I kinda have to side with Zigfried, because Joey spent the last ten minutes being a freak in the dressing room/lounge/bathroom and at one point looked like he was going to hold the entire locker room in a stranglehold.

I would also want some space from Joey Wheeler, is what I’m saying.

After insulting Joey’s style (which honestly, Joey...has a style? He pops his collar, that’s his entire style.) Zigfried assures us that Joey’s gonna lose and like...

...probably, right? Just looking at the plausible direction this season will go.

Anyway, Joey is such a mess (which is the theme of the episode, that Joey needs to learn to chill in order to win at card games) that Rebecca is like “I understand if all of you leave me to go help our poor baby Joey.” And no one felt bad for her.

Mokuba comes over to tell everyone all of the Kaiba family secrets because Mokuba has no filter.

Seto has devoted himself to staring at a computer screen for the rest of this episode. I guess he’ll put their names into Google, realize that social media hasn’t been invented yet, and then just lie his head down on the desk and take a power nap until the tournament is over. Much like I did after taking Dayquil this afternoon.

I like how Seto dressed for success and then locked himself in the server room for most of this arc so far. Maybe he’s just...really tired, I dunno. I don’t really blame the guy, he’s had a hard time.

And then Yugi was like “DAMN IT MOKUBA, JUST ONCE CAN YOU NOT INVITE THE ILLUMINATI???”

And we had a weird scene where Yugi just started talking to the ghost and it was while he was talking to everyone else, and the show didn’t treat it like that’s a weird thing to do...but it was a weird thing to do.

This show does that sometimes, where I guess they imply that Yugi’s Pharaoh conversations are split second conversations but...they’re not, right?

Also this chick ain’t gone yet, and Mokuba is just failing at his entire job for not zeroing in on vibes coming off this chick like stinky cheeseman.

So listen.

Did the Kaibas make like 3 types of Blue Eyes Caboose to one up Noah? Because Noah made one choo choo dragon, and then Mokuba and Seto were like “how dare” and then made sure that everyone ride every single version of the blue eyes caboose just to see how proud of them they were.

How many months of troubleshooting was the train? Like how long in development did Seto and Mokuba spend on these? A lot right? Like most of the time?

I did not check the subs to see if Roland said Jumping or Champion but I like to believe that Roland thought it was a cool new name he gave him.

Then these guys all showed up.

Hey so...can we talk seating arrangements?

Tea decided not to sit next to Yugi after complaining about not spending time with him for like how many episodes? Or was it too awkward to sit on top of what was probably Pharaoh?

Or did Mokuba go like “please, Tea, I cannot sit next to the others because I’m pretty sure one is a mole that is about to go cray” and was Tea like “Good, I need female friends, these ones are driving me crazy!” and then was Mokuba like peering desperately over the edge of his self made dragon train prison realizing he has to listen to Tea complain about boys for the rest of his ride across molten lava?

Headcanons abound about this weird seating arrangement that the animators drew for the reasons they did...but reasons I cannot fully understand. That and the Dayquil is making me overfixate on random stuff.

And also, Tea is kind of the Kaiba’s security’s understudy. Just there to always protect Mokuba with her ass because she’s the strongest woman alive.

PS I missed the tumblr wars because at the time I was trying to like...run a proper business on blogger. When Blogger died and I jumped over here it was like a weird ruin where everyone was like “tumblr is the most toxic place alive” and...I’ve had a really nice time here, actually. Completely missed that civil war period and I have no regrets.

Now I was there for the Petz wars (warz, I guess) where people were very militant about Petz abuse (abuze?) where apparently people were using the spray bottle on their catz too much and people were very, very upset about it to the point that they were like campaigning about it on their angelfire websites with the most bizarre grassroots campaigns that I still recall, to this day because they were like...well they looked like this:

PLAPA. Not only am I 100% positive that only this one guy ever called this movement PLAPA, but I’m 100% positive that not only are Catz not real people, but also this wasn’t actually happening and we never had any proof that it was. Either way, if people knew or suspected that you hadn’t deleted the spray bottle from your game (which at the time I had no idea how to do because I was a wee child) they would basically assume you were on a one way road to being a mass murderer in real life.

In real life we were 7 years old so like...thanks?

But that’s the closest I got to toxicity and at the time I was too young to make an email account and actually converse with these people. I was just there to download their Petz hexes, and I already made a post about how wonderful and incredible Petz Hexing was.

And y’all, I heard, just now after a little deep dive into the Petz Abuse debacle (which yes, is on the wiki), that apparently, like gardening, Petz Hexing came back in a big way during the epidemic--and I have found an active Petz forum in this the year 2021. The only problem is that I no longer remember how to use old timey forums...and I think I’m locked out of seeing most of these threads (and like this forum is so old I think I have to send them a letter in the physical mail to apply). But, I’m pretty sure they’re hosting a picture contest for who’s dogz poses the best. And I’m pretty sure someone created a hexxed Pickle Rick. Or it’s a photoshop that was made to look like a hexxed Pickle Rick.

Dammit why did it have to be Pickle Rick? That’s not worth re-installing Petz and getting it to run on Windows 10...

Guys is this the Dayquil? Is this really happening? I feel like I’m losing my mind for so many reasons...

Anyway, speaking about useless hexing it’s about time that our villain did something that was actually dangerous, so Zigfried decided to install a new virus that does more than turn off the lights. (it still turns off lights)

the Spreadsheet Virus!

Confounded by the spreadsheet software, it...um...it does this:

Straight up how does Excel make a volcano erupt? Is that why I have to pay for Microsoft office now?

All this because Joey made fun of Zigfried’s naturally pink hair? Which is the most normal hair on this series outside of like...Tristan?

Hey guys...Joey’s fine, right? Like how many times has Joey been on fire? And once in an iron cage next to like...a Fire Golem?

Joey’s fine.

MAN I miss Fire Golem. He had a good mug.

And then we just kinda watch chaos go across the park, chaos that includes: Too many ghosts in the haunted mansion (which honestly--you’ll get your money’s worth, sounds great!), the Ferris wheel goes kinda fast and thus might accidentally be fun, the lights turn off at some concert stage that only had 2 people on it (so it might just be motion detector lights and not even a virus), and um...literal fire and magma are going to set Joey Wheeler on fire.

Just...one of these events does not seem like the others. In fact most of these things sound like good improvements to the park and they should just hire Zigfried at this point.

Roland puts down his microphone and jogs across the stage, about a mile through the audience bleachers, and into the staff lounge, to go and bother Seto Kaiba, who is in a room that has a hi-def classical painting copy-pasted on the wall and I can’t look away from it.

I almost did a Google search on this painting but then thought better about it. There’s like...a billion classical paintings that look exactly like this, and they wouldn’t use like a Monet, they would have to do something that’s harder to catch to avoid copyright issues (because yes, even old ass paintings have copyright issues, but no one tell NFT’s which are going to be so freakin screwed and was such a bad idea, that I can’t even start).

Anyway, I have no idea who it is and it is legitimately driving me up a wall, but I’m on too much meds to do the effort of putting it in a reverse google image search.

Plus, a reverse google image search would only pull up Seto Kaiba.

So Kaiba takes us on a little flashback to his weird ass past, a weird ass past that just...doesn’t follow any of the established timelines, but I assume was shortly after adoption but before Seto got into a phase where he wore his school outfit everywhere and tried to shove his MMO off onto his Dad as a business model.

Seto is like 8 for some reason. I don’t know why, they kinda drew him younger this season anyway, like maybe they got a lot of fan mail and realized “Hey I think we made the 16 yo boy too sexy?” And they just toned Seto the hell down. That, and it’s a different animation team, and maybe they looked at Seto’s character design and were like “we don’t get paid enough to draw this well.” So...since Seto actually looks like a teen again, I guess his 12 year old self has to look like he’s in Elementary school.

Also, I only recognized this, because at some point in S3 as I was roasting Noah Kaiba’s weird fashion:

I remember distinctly roasting that little bow tie. I don’t remember when I wrote it, I think there was a version of this outfit that was in color...but I don’t remember where.

Anyway, it’s not the same jacket...but man that’s kind of awkward, ya? Like the maid who dressed Mokuba deffo got fired?

He um.

Turned the lights off a little bit.

Guys this villain is like...

...why does he think lights are scary? Like look at little Seto here. The boy is already bored. Seto duels on the edges of cliffs...he doesn’t care about the freakin dark.

We had a guy who killed everyone on the planet last season, and this season we have a little fashion gremlin standing in the corner and flicking the light switch going  “wooooo you never catch me!” and it’s like...

...I’m starting to think this guy isn’t a witch.

Like we’re at Episode 6, there’s still time for this guy to be a witch...but I really am starting to think this guy is just...straight up not a witch. It’s everything Seto wanted, a rival who isn’t a freakin magic person...and sets Joey only fake on fire instead literally on fire like last time...

and Seto is just completely unhinged by it.

Anyway, I’m off to go drink a bowl of soup and pass out. If you’re new here, this is a link to read these in chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar's Dreamscape: The Garden of Two Lovers

@miki-13 asked "Okay I know we didn't get a lot of Oscar backstory, but I really do think that after the V8 finale, there's a new avenue to explore with Oscar. Why? Because as far as he knows, his friends, partner and love interest are dead. The people he's grown to care for over the course of V5-8 are suddenly gone. There's no way that's not gonna hurt him, even if Ozpin assures him that they're not dead. Because either way, he's been forcibly separated from them.

Heck, this could actually open up an avenue for him to talk about his own family life and why he lives with his aunt. Not to mention one of his allusions is to The Little Prince and he just arrived in a desert after leaving his Rose behind, and the whole story deals with death in general.

Actually, maybe that's how Oscar gets his semblance/ branches out with his magic! He wants to find the people he loves so badly and refuses to give up on them, that he finds a way to get the void/ communicate with them and possibly find a way to lay the groundwork for bringing them back!

Squiggles Answers:

Hey there Miki-chan. Pardon the late reply but I wanted to reserve my response to this as a new Pinehead headcanon post considering that, ironically, you and I share the same thoughts and theories about Oscar reaching out.

The idea I had is that Oscar would be able to connect to Ruby in the Other World in his dreams. Once again, I return to my old Oscar’s Dreamscape Pinehead headcanon from donkey years ago. Essentially, through his unyielding love for his rose and his deep desires to reunite with her again in some shape or form, Oscar unintentionally creates the Dreamscape.

And what the Dreamscape is is that it is this magical place that transcends reality and only exists through the shared bond between Oscar and Ruby. Picture a shallow stagnant sea that mirrors an endless sunset sky. A perfect blend of the warm embrace of the sun and the tranquil beauty of the moon that paves the path towards a small garden that sits in the middle of this mysterious magical place.

And it is in this garden where Oscar meets Ruby in his dreams and vice versa.

Remember how it was said that the Little Prince fairy-tale ended ambiguously with the reader never knowing the truth of the prince’s fate after he was poisoned by the snake and “went to sleep”.

Some iteration believed the prince to have died and gone back to his home planet in spirit to be with his rose while another interpretation described the Prince returning home only to discover that his rose had died in his absence without him present to take care of her.

Either way, the allusion is that the prince does indeed reunite with his rose but in a manner that is still tragic when you look at it. Going off of that, this is why I love the concept of Oscar connecting to Ruby in sleep with the two meeting and communicating with each other in their dreams through unknown power originated from Oscar. Only it’s NOT exactly a semblance. Nor is it exactly magic either.

One of my favourite quotes from the Lost Fable episode back in V6 is when Jinn described a power much greater than magic that caused Salem and Ozma to recognize one another in their new lives.

“…Call it magic or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who stood before them…”

In the Lost Fable, Jinn made it seem as if loveis an element more powerful than even the likes of magic; as cheesy as that might sound. So if love is able to transcend life and death to cause two kindred souls to recognize each other in another life in another time time, what’s stopping it from transcending worlds to bring together another pair of kindred souls?

So as corny as this is going to sound, the hopeless romantic in me cannot help but swoon over the thought of love being what creates the Dreamscape and/or brings Ruby and Oscar together in such a place that only they can traverse.

It is a power that was born from Ruby and Oscar’s shared love for one another and desire to reunite with each other and thus it’s a power that only they share together. The Rosegarden in the Dreamscape is theirs.

In the beginning, on the first night the two reunite in their dreams, the Dreamscape was believed to be solely of Oscar’s doing but in reality, it was a special new world that belonged to both the little prince and his true rose alone.

Okay, hear me out with this one. The reason why I’m thinking the Dreamscape was believed to be Oscar’s power alone in the beginning was because when it all started, the Dreamscape mainly reacted to Oscar. On his end, let’s say…Oscar wished so desperately to see Ruby again that unbeknownst to him; the Dreamscape was forged just so Oscar could accomplish his heart’s wish---to see his rose.

Thus, Oscar is able to see Ruby in their dreams and she in turn is able to see and talk to him between worlds but only in sleep. However, that is extent of the Dreamscape through Oscar’s influence. The two can communicate but they can’t physically touch or feel one another.

Because I have this idea of Ruby and Oscar growing closer to each other than they’ve ever been before since they’re able to meet in Dreamscape. However it’s also this painful thing where despite being together in their dreams, they’re still not together when they are constantly reminded that they can’t touch each other.

Like imagine a moment where the two rosebuds are bonding in the Dreamscape, trying to come up with way to reunite together, swapping backstories and secrets about themselves with each other that they’ve never told anyone else only for one of them---mainly Oscar--- to get lost in the euphoria of the moment and attempt to reach out and touch the other person only to be painfully reminded, that they’re not truly there. They’re still separated despite how close the Dreamscape has brought them.

The only time when the Dreamscape is actually able is to make Ruby and Oscar interact physically is when that becomes Ruby’s wish.

Okay, hear me out again.

I have this scenario in my head where Oscar suffers a mental breakdown as a result of being poisoned during an encounter with Tyrian Callows. Remember how Tyrian’s venom caused Qrow to suffer and hallucinate back in V4?

Well picture something similar with Oscar where he falls into a sort of light coma as a result of being poisoned. Let’s say…as a result of the venom, Oscar is transported to the Dreamscape where ALL of his inner demons---the true feeling and fears he’s been suppressing for a long time---suddenly manifest inside this world to torment him and berate him.

And let’s say…on the other end, in the Other World, Ruby becomes worried for Oscar’s well-being when he doesn’t make contact with her in the Dreamscape for some time. And let’s say…due to her connection with Oscar, which became stronger as a result of them bonding in the dream world, Ruby is able to sense when something is wrong with Oscar due to her having a weird feeling in her chest. Almost as if her heart was beckoning her somewhere else. To take her to the person she wanted to see who needed her help. Or something like that.

In a nutshell, Ruby is able to enter the Dreamscape on her own through her connection with Oscar. At first, Ruby mostly relied on Oscar to bring her to the Dreamscape but when Oscar was in trouble, Ruby used their link to take her there as an alternative means.

To make a long theory short, Ruby arrives in the Dreamscape to find the once magical dream world in dark chaos ---basically imagine being on the outside of a tornado.

The Dreamscape had turned into a rampant storm to reflect Oscar’s darkest inner emotions which were spiralling out of control before Ruby’s very eyes.

Remember how in Steven Universe, in the episode that debuted the “Here Comes A Thought” song, remember how Steven’s true feelings about Jasper, Bismuth and his mother started to manifest before him and Connie while they were fused as Stevonnie during training?

Picture a moment like that with Oscar in the Dreamscape where Oscar’s fears take form---at first taking on the appearance of Oscar’s old self dressed in his old farm boy attire belittling Oscar for leaving home to be among people who he didn’t fully believe trusted or even actually cared him---unearthing Oscar’s thoughts and repressed emotions from the events of V6.

Then the Dreamscape manifests Ironwood to belittle Oscar for his repressed emotions from the events of V7. Then it transforms into Salem to taunt and humiliate Oscar over his repressed trauma as a result of being her prisoner during the events of V8 and being tortured.

You get what I’m saying, right? Whatever Oscar has been repressing for so long, the Dreamscape manifests it as a being of spite to through it all back in Oscar’s face when he was most vulnerable. Finally, as Ruby enters the fray, the Dreamscape takes on a new form.

Here’s another concept to toss onto the Fake Rose table. Imagine if…the Fake Rose isn’t another silver eyed warrior or rose-themed person who takes an interest in Oscar.

What if…the Fake Rose is actually a replica of Ruby manifested by the Dreamscape to reveal Oscar’s true feelings and fears in respect to Ruby?

Assuming that you’re an ole-school Potterhead like yours truly Miki-chan, remember the last book/movie?

Remember that one scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows involving the locket? Remember how the locket made an apparition of Harry and Hermione appear before Ron to voice his jealousy and inferiority when compared to Harry especially in the eyes of Hermione who he believed loved Harry over him.

Picture something like that with a Fake Ruby Rose---Mocking Oscar over his “childish” love for his rose, as if he actually stood a chance of being with her given the Merge and any other insecurities that Oscar secretly harboured that he’d supressed for so long.

Picture that. Imagine…something like that happening so that it could ultimately lead into Ruby denouncing ever fear of Oscar’s voiced by her fake copy as this rose---the one true rose did her best to comfort her prince.

It’s a moment where Ruby words unfortunately don’t reach Oscar. Thus, Ruby tries to one way she’s always reached out to him. Through a gentle comforting touch. In that moment, Ruby wishes for Oscar to feelher there beside him.

To feel her arms wrapped around him and the warmth of the hug she dared to give him since she wanted more than anything to be able to comfort him through the storm. And for a second time, through the power of love (mixed in with just a smidge of their share magic inherited from the God of Light possibly), the Dreamscape grants Ruby’s wish and Oscar is able to feel her for the first time since they met in the dream world. To feel her arms around him as she embraced him tightly with all the love and care for him she could channel in that moment.

And just like that, all becomes calm as the storm disappeared; softening to a gentle breeze against a beautifully sunlit sky; revealing two hearts embraced; once seperated but now together at long last in the world of their own created from their shared love.

Basically picture the Dreamscape as this magical world brought to life by the love and heart’s desires of two star-crossed lovers separated by fate and lost to two realities. Thus the Dreamscape mirrors the feelings and grants the desires of these two lovers since they are the rulersof said world as its creators. Thus it is a world that is only attainable by them. A world of their own. A world of dreams to grant the wishes of two lost souls in love.

I’d love to go more in depth into this revised Dreamscapeidea of mine for the Rosegarden pair. However for the time being, this is concept that I have in mind and is all that I have to share for now. What do you think?

~ LittleMissSquiggles (2021)